A tale of embassy buildings
Jul 05, 2003
THE maxim, “Speak as you findâ€, has been part of me even before I had heard of it. It is (in my view) often misunderstood, some calling it many kind of names. My first boarding school headmaster, at Mwiri, one F.G. Coates went as far as writing on my report, way back in 1948, “This boy is rude
THE maxim, “Speak as you findâ€, has been part of me even before I had heard of it. It is (in my view) often misunderstood, some calling it many kind of names. My first boarding school headmaster, at Mwiri, one F.G. Coates went as far as writing on my report, way back in 1948, “This boy is rude.â€
Bless my soul! I was 10 at the time, in P4, brand new at Mwiri, and Mr Coates was in charge of the whole school, right up to School Leaving Certificate. To my recollection we had never even met; why pick on a little insignificant person in this way? Somehow I managed to survive this onslaught and here I am. This is a long way about, to speak as I find, my admiration for ex president Idi Amin, at least in one respect. Under his presidency Uganda bought outright many embassy buildings abroad, and mostly in the choicest of locations.
When my Uncle (by marriage) Apolo Kironde was our man at the UN in 1965 I much enjoyed staying with him at a residence he had acquired from famous actor Anthony Quinn. It was on six floors, in a stately neighbourhood, between Park and Lexington Avenues, at 70th Street; they don’t come much grander than that. He was also instrumental in buying a small triangular piece of land near the UN on which many years later our embassy building was constructed.
I think by then the original buying price had been recovered by fees from vehicles parking there! What is the situation today? The only word that comes to mind is “patheticâ€, and it is even worse than that.
Almost all these properties are in complete shambles because they have gone unrepaired for years for lack of funds. To give just two examples, both in Belgium, the chancery is almost uninhabitable, down to using buckets to catch water from the leaking roof. There is a smell of damp everywhere.
The outwardly impressive building is in a beautiful location in central Brussels. What makes it worse is that the huge property also had three residential flats for embassy officials in it, meaning that we saved considerable amounts of money from renting elsewhere. Not any more – the flats are too gone to live in.
The residency is even worse, possibly heralding a time when the city of Brussels will announce it not fit for human habitation. It could have been repaired for as little as $14,000 a couple of years ago. The money, which could have been obtained by receipt of items such as issuing of visas, was denied by some arm of government, quoting the need for it to first go to the dreaded Consolidated Fund, from which it would never have returned.
Those two buildings in Brussels are worth millions of dollars. It is a prime example of being “penny-wise and pound-foolishâ€.
Government, to misquote Dickens, “is a assâ€! The next news bulletin will be that somebody has taken the decision that we sell these properties at what would now be their lowest price and rent instead. Such a person should be lined up against a wall and shot!
Some times I almost think that there is something missing in Africans. Of course Government is right to consider some of our envoys to be villains. In that case put stringent checks in place, but for goodness sake let us behave like full members of the human race. Very many of our other embassies are in the same boat, leaking water from every orifice. A shining exception I saw on my recent travels is our embassy in Denmark. It shows what a single individual with a will can do. In this case it is Ambassador Omar Lubulwa, erstwhile banker and Luweero politician.
Both the chancery and residence are in very good order, considering, although the latter needs part of the roof, which now lies naked to the sky, replaced immediately. What is remarkable, especially to those who had seen both buildings before his arrival, is the immaculate state in which they are now kept. Has this to do with Lubulwa being a Muslim? It is a truth nationally acknowledged that day in day out Muslims are the cleanest group in our country.
* * *
It was quite satisfying to note that damaged former British Secretary of State Clare Short came right out and sped off (with what some might view as indecent haste) to Rwanda to interview for British radio her favourite man, Rwandese president Kagame.
Those who attended Ugandan/Rwandan talks under her chairmanship were left in little doubt about for whom of the two presidents she had the greater fondness. Nor should Uganda feel too piqued. After all did we not, and do we still not, have our own Dame, Baroness Chalker? Take your pick. For me it would unquestionably be Chalker. I wish I could quote in detail the earthy view of a past minister of foreign affairs on the two ladies, but suffice to say he too inclined vigorously to Chalker! Thus it is no bad thing for Uganda that Short has fallen off her perch. Her replacement, Baroness Amos, as I found out from London friends, comes with a high reputation. But even then Our Man, as I have said before, should discontinue these London trips, chaired by mere Secretaries of State; they have served their purpose. Also he is way too big for these gimmicks, as can be garnered by his hosting of Presidents Clinton and now Bush. Cheers!
www.onemansweek.com
Ends
Bless my soul! I was 10 at the time, in P4, brand new at Mwiri, and Mr Coates was in charge of the whole school, right up to School Leaving Certificate. To my recollection we had never even met; why pick on a little insignificant person in this way? Somehow I managed to survive this onslaught and here I am. This is a long way about, to speak as I find, my admiration for ex president Idi Amin, at least in one respect. Under his presidency Uganda bought outright many embassy buildings abroad, and mostly in the choicest of locations.
When my Uncle (by marriage) Apolo Kironde was our man at the UN in 1965 I much enjoyed staying with him at a residence he had acquired from famous actor Anthony Quinn. It was on six floors, in a stately neighbourhood, between Park and Lexington Avenues, at 70th Street; they don’t come much grander than that. He was also instrumental in buying a small triangular piece of land near the UN on which many years later our embassy building was constructed.
I think by then the original buying price had been recovered by fees from vehicles parking there! What is the situation today? The only word that comes to mind is “patheticâ€, and it is even worse than that.
Almost all these properties are in complete shambles because they have gone unrepaired for years for lack of funds. To give just two examples, both in Belgium, the chancery is almost uninhabitable, down to using buckets to catch water from the leaking roof. There is a smell of damp everywhere.
The outwardly impressive building is in a beautiful location in central Brussels. What makes it worse is that the huge property also had three residential flats for embassy officials in it, meaning that we saved considerable amounts of money from renting elsewhere. Not any more – the flats are too gone to live in.
The residency is even worse, possibly heralding a time when the city of Brussels will announce it not fit for human habitation. It could have been repaired for as little as $14,000 a couple of years ago. The money, which could have been obtained by receipt of items such as issuing of visas, was denied by some arm of government, quoting the need for it to first go to the dreaded Consolidated Fund, from which it would never have returned.
Those two buildings in Brussels are worth millions of dollars. It is a prime example of being “penny-wise and pound-foolishâ€.
Government, to misquote Dickens, “is a assâ€! The next news bulletin will be that somebody has taken the decision that we sell these properties at what would now be their lowest price and rent instead. Such a person should be lined up against a wall and shot!
Some times I almost think that there is something missing in Africans. Of course Government is right to consider some of our envoys to be villains. In that case put stringent checks in place, but for goodness sake let us behave like full members of the human race. Very many of our other embassies are in the same boat, leaking water from every orifice. A shining exception I saw on my recent travels is our embassy in Denmark. It shows what a single individual with a will can do. In this case it is Ambassador Omar Lubulwa, erstwhile banker and Luweero politician.
Both the chancery and residence are in very good order, considering, although the latter needs part of the roof, which now lies naked to the sky, replaced immediately. What is remarkable, especially to those who had seen both buildings before his arrival, is the immaculate state in which they are now kept. Has this to do with Lubulwa being a Muslim? It is a truth nationally acknowledged that day in day out Muslims are the cleanest group in our country.
* * *
It was quite satisfying to note that damaged former British Secretary of State Clare Short came right out and sped off (with what some might view as indecent haste) to Rwanda to interview for British radio her favourite man, Rwandese president Kagame.
Those who attended Ugandan/Rwandan talks under her chairmanship were left in little doubt about for whom of the two presidents she had the greater fondness. Nor should Uganda feel too piqued. After all did we not, and do we still not, have our own Dame, Baroness Chalker? Take your pick. For me it would unquestionably be Chalker. I wish I could quote in detail the earthy view of a past minister of foreign affairs on the two ladies, but suffice to say he too inclined vigorously to Chalker! Thus it is no bad thing for Uganda that Short has fallen off her perch. Her replacement, Baroness Amos, as I found out from London friends, comes with a high reputation. But even then Our Man, as I have said before, should discontinue these London trips, chaired by mere Secretaries of State; they have served their purpose. Also he is way too big for these gimmicks, as can be garnered by his hosting of Presidents Clinton and now Bush. Cheers!
www.onemansweek.com
Ends